Constantine - Not quite ‘Hellblazer,’ but still quite good fun

In case you don’t know ‘Constantine’ is actually based on quite a famous cult comic called ‘Hellblazer,’ but had its name changed when ‘Hellboy’ came out the year before and the film-makers were concerned with non comic book fans getting the two confused.  So, Step 1 of how to alienate your core fanbase is change the name!  The fan boys were not amused.  They were even less amused when other changes were made to the script and story in general.  It was fair to say that ‘Constantine’ was off to a bad start.

But it’s certainly not that bad.  Keanu Reeves plays the titular (John) ‘Constantine’ – a man who’s soul is damned to hell for all eternity, but hopes he can get out of the inevitable afterlife in hell by doing God’s work and sending as many Earth-dwelling demons back to their fiery origins.  So it’s a kind of action/horror/demon/supernatural affair.  It certainly has elements of all of those genres, just don’t go expecting much ‘horror’ in this horror movie.

Perhaps producers were aware that many people wouldn’t recognise the franchise from its comic-based roots and decided that one way to get bums on seats would be to make it pretty tame.  Yes, if you’re really afraid of possessions and general monsters you may find this scary.  It’s hardly a kids’ film, but its primary market is probably fully-grown men, many of which expect a little more gore and darkness from the big screen.

Keanu Reeves is hardly known for his acting, but he does his best and for whatever he lacks in dramatic ability, he makes up for by simply being Keanu Reeves.  He’s instantly able to be rooted for and you don’t have to be a genius to recognise that he’s going to fall for Rachel Weiss’ character (sporting a not-so-great American accent).

So Keanu generally goes about the place, despatching one demon after another.  If you squint at the screen you’ll probably help yourself fail to notice how much CGI is used with each baddie he slaughters.

Constantine isn’t a classic.  It won’t be remembered in cinema’s history books.  However, if you’re generally in the mood for a little monster-bashing (and not a die-hard fan of the comic books it’s based on) then put this on.  You probably also check your phone a couple of times during the run-time and still known what’s going on.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that